Brandi Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American alternative country and folk rock singer-songwriter who, in 2005, was featured on the Rolling Stone list of "10 Artists to Watch in 2005" in recognition of her self-produced debut album on Columbia Records simply titled Brandi Carlile. In 2007, her album The Story was produced by T-Bone Burnett and included a collaboration with the Indigo Girls on the song "Cannonball"; by 2011, the hidden track "Hiding My Heart" from the album was covered by English singer Adele as a bonus track for the limited edition of the latter's album 21.

Carlile is best known for the eponymous song from the The Story album. "The Story", the song, was used in a General Motors television commercial aired on American and Canadian television showcasing the car company's new line-up of more fuel-efficient cars. Due to the ad airing heavily during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the song increased in downloads. The song was also used in the 2008 commercial for Super Bock, the most popular beer in Portugal, which led to the song reaching number 1 and the album The Story reaching number 4 on the Portuguese charts. "The Story" was also used in a montage of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno during the opening and closing of the Ohio State-Penn State football game on ABC on October 25, 2008, and was also used in a 2010 Tracker television commercial that aired on South African television. "The Story" is currently being used on Connecticut Channel 3 during promotions for the local news. Aside from "The Story" (specifically the cover version by Sara Ramirez), two other Carlile songs (this time from her third album titled Give Up the Ghost) were used for two more episodes of the TV series Grey's Anatomy.